MEMBER CHAIR’S MESSAGE
Opportunities, and Next Steps, for SSIT
GREG ADAMSON
T
he engineering profession has changed a he has developed a theory of “shared value.” For great deal in the decades since the incepPorter, an engineer by training, the greatest unmet tion of the IEEE Committee (and later needs of the global economy are health, better housSociety) on Social Implications of Technoling, improved nutrition, help for the ageing, greater ogy (SSIT) in 1972. For example, today issues such as financial security, and less environmental damage. environmental protection, the need for SSIT members understand the limdiversity in engineering employment, its of a purely technical approach to There are and risk management have become daily these challenges. This understanding growing concerns for the engineering profession. could benefit the entire IEEE memberSSIT has also changed. Four decades ship. Many engineers and other techopportunities ago we were a minority voice, seeking nologists only discover the limits of a for SSIT to be to be heard. Today the IEEE’s tagline, simplistic technical approach the hard heard. “Advancing Technology for Humanity,” way: from project failure or the expeshows an awareness of and focus on one rience of unintended consequences. of SSIT’s key areas of concern. There are growing opIEEE members need a strong and active SSIT, and portunities for SSIT to be heard, at a time when there is SSIT has the knowledge and experience to fill this a serious need to understand the complex relationship need – if we can grow our Society and in so doing, between technology and society. amplify our voices. With this in mind, SSIT is initiating a program Our SSIT membership development initiative into raise its profile within IEEE. A first step is cludes four aspects: to increase our membership, in line with IEEE’s Visibility: Featuring material about SSIT overall goal of increasing the number of members throughout IEEE. For example, SSIT members who are also members of the 38 IEEE societies. have prepared a significant feature article for the Our approach includes encouraging new chapters forthcoming 100th anniversary issue of Proceedand growing our current chapters. It also involves ings of the IEEE. expanding the range of activities we undertake, Accessibility: Identify and remove any orto make SSIT a compelling part of our members’ ganizational barriers to SSIT membership, parvolunteering at a time when we all have many deticularly among students, where we are currently mands on our time. lagging. The societal challenges of the 21st century are sigReach: Provide support where there are sufnificant. Michael Porter is well known among busificient SSIT members to form a chapter, inness theorists for developing a theory of competitive cluding buddying existing chapters with new advantage. More recently, along with Mark Kramer, chapters. Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MTS.2012.2188700
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Date of publication: 6 March 2012
Greg Adamson is an elected member of the SSIT Board of Governors as well as Chair of the SSIT Membership Committee. Email:
[email protected]. IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE
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NEWS AND NOTES
Three IEEE-SSIT Members Elevated to Fellow Status for 2012 Three IEEE-SSIT members have been elevated to Fellow status in the IEEE for 2012. Listed here with their Fellow citations, they are:
Ben Schneiderman “For contributions to human-computer interaction and information visualization.”
Jon Peha “For leadership in wireless and broadband technology for public safety communications.”
Barry Shoop “For leadership in photonic signal and image processing for national security.”
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MTS.2012.2189144
SSIT congratulates these new IEEE Fellows.
Date of publication: 6 March 2012
MEMBER CHAIR’S MESSAGE
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Value: Expand our suite of products and services to provide additional value and engagement (beyond the existing components of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, the annual International Symposium on Technology and Society (ISTAS), chapters, technical meetings, and the SSIT e-newsletter).
EDITORIAL
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held accountable with respect to a device’s function and application. We should not simply be building because someone has given us the money to build; nor should we be building with the “build and they will come” mentality. This is to be near-sighted, to think of the “now” not later ideal, and to ignore the potential consequences. Ethics is increasingly being considered in the engineering discipline. The study of ethical aspects has become integral in engineering and computing curricula internationally. However, it remains to be seen how organizations and institutions will espouse ethics in their methodological processes. 10
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We urge you to be part of this outreach, either by becoming involved through your local SSIT chapter or by contacting me at g.adamson@ieee. org. Now is the ti me to build on the 40 years of effort SSIT has made to bring a better understanding of technology and society to the engineering community.
Someone who has made particular progress in software engineering ethics is the previous Editor-in-Chief of this publication, Professor Keith Miller. I would like to thank him personally for taking T&S Magazine to new heights during his four year editorship – we received a record number of international submissions during his leadership, and addressed engineering topics from multidisciplinary perspectives, and in addition won Awards of Excellence from the Society for Technical Communication. I hope to carry on Prof. Miller’s legacy with the same spirit – inviting discussion on topical areas, including commentary by those who have become exceedingly influential in matters pertaining to technology and society. IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE
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